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The Cult of The Coach

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Starman, Apr 13, 2007.

  1. JimmyHoward33

    JimmyHoward33 Well-Known Member

    Every game is different, IMHO. That's how I approach it. Sometimes its worth talking to a kid, sometimes its not. Depends entirely on what happens, which school's are in our coverage area, how much space the gamer is getting, and sometimes how fast they are getting on the freakin bus.

    I've had games where I talked to two coaches, one coach, no players, one player and five players. It varies.
     
  2. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    I've written stories where I only quoted coaches. I've written some where I only quoted players. I've written a ton that quoted both. Depends on what fits.

    It's nice to talk to as many people as you can, but with deadlines getting earlier and earlier, sometimes you just can't wait 15-20 minutes for kids to quit goofing off in the locker room and come out to talk to you. When you got 10 minutes to file your 10-inch gamer, sometimes you got to go with what you got.
     
  3. Padre

    Padre Member

    agreed, every situation is different, but I always try to get both ccoaches and, since 85% of my games are prep, a kid or two from the winning team. I figure, the coach is the guy in charge, so his take will be important - what he says will lead to how much I use of it.

    You should have more than 3 inches that aren't quotes, though - isn't that where we earn our money?
     
  4. Padre

    Padre Member

    what I'd like to know, though, is more about the falsely accused writer/stalker/asshole coach story. How the hell did that happen?
     
  5. nate41

    nate41 Member

    Same here, but like one guy said at game I was at where the winning team scattered afterwards, sometimes you just gotta go with it.
     
  6. RedCanuck

    RedCanuck Active Member

    For those who don't have this, particulary ones who aren't on a 30-minute deadline, Facebook is a lifesaver. I've almost never had a problem getting quotes from kids through there.
     
  7. JonnyD

    JonnyD Member

    Coach quotes are like the safety shots. You go to a game, especially if you are not a photographer but have to shoot the game anyway, and you get a couple of easy, boring shots that you know will at least be in focus and recognizably the sport you are covering. Then you try for actually good photos, but if nothing comes out, you've got a backup.

    Talk to the coaches because you might waste 20 minutes talking to four different kids and not get a single interesting thing. But ideally, the sports story will hear from people actually playing a sport.
     
  8. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    I've talked to them; they think I'm being an asshole.

    The head honchos don't caree, they are the ones kicking deadlines up so stories have to be in 2 hours earlier, and cutting back staff so people who cover games also have to take a half-dozen calls after they get back in the office.
     
  9. Mozilla

    Mozilla Guest

    You have to talk to the players, even if it's just for a couple of good quotes.
    The players played the game you just covered. They might have better quotes, too.
     
  10. Clerk Typist

    Clerk Typist Guest

    The Chicago Tribune had a rule (and may still have it) that coaches could not be quoted in prep game stories. Players only. Thoughts?
     
  11. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    I just went and read the first gamer on The Tribune site and the first person quoted is a coach. I was researching something a while back and had to look through some of their high school basketball gamers from the early 1990s. Those quoted coaches too. Maybe they had that rule sometime in between, but it seems silly.
     
  12. dirtybird

    dirtybird Well-Known Member

    I'd say this all depends on the length and nature of the prep stories. If this extends to features and non-gamers, that seems dumb. Coaches can be valuable for those. But I could see that happening for gamers only if there were limited to a certain length. I've seen shops that try to limit full-length recaps to around 10 inches (some stuff could get longer, but generally prep stories could only near 500 in the postseason or at massive track meets). IF you limited space like that, it only makes sense.

    Generally I like talking to coaches, as they have a bit more of a global perspective, and are usually more talkative. That said, I usually always try to talk to 1-2 players, more if its a bigger game or football. At some points I'll not talk to players, usually at the end of a massive soccer blowout where local team loses to non-local team, but I've only had a few of those instances. I'm also not a big believer in HAVING to talk to and quote someone from a non-area team, although the editor insists on including a quote from both coaches no matter what.
     
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